


Upload

by TerminalDegenerate



Category: Original Work
Genre: Ambiguous Gender, Brainwashing, Identity Death, Identity Erasure, Other, POV First Person, Technology, drone, dronification, mind wipe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:41:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25829083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerminalDegenerate/pseuds/TerminalDegenerate
Summary: For so long now, your partner has been giving your mind helpful "uploads." But today's upload is a big one, and you're ready to accept it, unknowing and uncaring of what will be left of your mind afterward...
Relationships: Reader/Ambiguous Gender Original Character
Kudos: 54





	Upload

“Hey darling, it’s upload time!”

Your partner called from the other room. You weren’t doing anything important, just looking at your phone. Upload time came around the same time every day, and you were never caught in the middle of something important. Was this you naturally responding to your treatment, or was this an instruction uploaded into you? These sort of questions over the mystery of the uploads excited you.

They were sitting at their computer, the familiar program pulled up on the monitor. Connected to their system was a thick, long cord. Just seeing it excited you as you sat down in the chair next to your partner.

You never felt the need to ask questions about your uploads. If you ever did, the instructions removed the need to vocalize such curiosities. Of course, there were things you could ask, but why bother? Why ruin the wonder?

You smiled wide as they located the port at the back of your neck. It had always been there - a cute little birthmark. There were times when you wondered if there might have been a time when it wasn’t there, but more comforting uploads put those thoughts at ease. It wouldn’t even make sense for it to have ever not been there!

As the cable made the connection, you felt the familiar rush as you were suddenly connected to the computer, your mind open to the flow of information. On the monitor, they pulled up an interface that gave them access to a variety of information. A video feed translated from your optical data. Various bars and numbers representing your vitals. Collections of folders holding all the information in your brain, including all the uploads they've so kindly given you. How many had it been now? You stopped counting a long time ago, you think.

“This one is going to be more than just basic performance updates,” your partner said, keys clicking beneath their fingers. “I’ve been working on a major system update for you. It’ll take several hours.”

Your heart fluttered. You tried to fathom how much data they were going to pump through into your head.

“As such, I’m going to be leaving you in a state of reduced awareness until it completes. You will not have control over your motor functions either.”

This was less of a warning and more of a disclaimer. You nodded eagerly. They glanced your way, stoic facade melting momentarily before your smile, and they responded with a kiss on your forehead. Various readings on the monitor spiked as they did so.

“Get some good rest, love. See you on the other side.”

More keystrokes. A click of a mouse.

Everything started to go out of focus. Vision blurred, reduced to light and shapes. The sounds of your surroundings became muffled. The chair beneath you was still there, though in your motionless state, you could hardly feel it.

Moments later, something makes its presence known, grabbing your focus and holding it tight. You could never quite describe the feeling. It wasn’t something you could see, hear, or feel. It was an experience unto itself, unique to you and you alone. As it pressed itself upon your barely-conscious mind, you offered no resistance. No matter how many times it came, it never became less wonderful.

The upload.

It was always hard to think during an upload. Your brain was working so hard to update itself, moving files around, accepting packets of data, that there was little left for your own use. It dominated your mental bandwidth, leaving you with simple emotions and disjointed thoughts.

You could sometimes get a sense as to what was being uploaded, although you didn’t always remember it afterwards. The stream of data was like a raging river, and you could dip your head beneath to inspect the debris being pulled along with it, though doing so would wash away your awareness of doing so once you pulled yourself free. You weren’t going to remember the contents of the upload either way, so you didn’t see the harm in letting your consciousness ride the waves of data.

And so you let the stream sweep your mind away, holding onto a unit of information. In isolation, it meant almost nothing, though by focusing you could attempt to see the other data being pulled along with it. Something about… resistance? It was hard to tell. You didn’t even know if you were ever successful at gleaning anything from these dives, yet you kept trying as though you could.

The stream began to spill out into your subconscious mind, where the update would install itself within the depths of your brain. This is normally where you would be forced out by the current, your awareness unable to leave your conscious mind. Yet, as you tried to breach the surface of the data stream, you felt another force pushing you back down.

You pressed a representation of your hand against the surface from beneath, being met with an equal opposing force. As you made contact, messages streamed through your being.

“CONTAINING CONSCIOUS MIND.”

It was hard for you to put any force at all into attempting to break through. Your mind was already so weak in this state, and the will of the upload could not be resisted. If it was instructed to pull your mind down into these depths, then all you could do was allow it to do its job.

As you dove past the threshold, you felt yourself becoming limp, drifting with the data stream, just another package of information set to arrive at a destination. Any sensory data you were still receiving was now lost to you. Your ability to think was slowing down. Trying to resist was useless. You knew this. You were…

The motion ceased. Had you arrived?

You floated.

In the darkness, distant and deep colors pulsed around you. You could tell that these were some of your innermost thoughts. You were drawn toward them, and you used what little will you had to drift toward them. A wave passed over yourself, causing you to recoil beneath the immeasurable weight of a single word.

“OBEY.”

It made your form rigid, as though it were conforming to some unknowable design. Obey… obey what?

Another wave. “OBEY.” It eroded at you, reshaping you. What was…

“OBEY.”

You… you were…

“DRONE.”

Yes…

“OBEY.”

Obey.

More steady waves of data reformatted your mind in its entirety. In the moment, you understood that you were being repurposed. That knowledge would be discarded as you were reinstalled within your conscious mind as an obedient drone. All you would know would be obedience. All functions necessary to facilitate your obedience would already be in place, ready to connect with your re-installed self, activating in response to commands. But the interpretation of commands was not to be handled by you. All that you needed to be was a quiet observer that understood its purpose.

Obey.

The upload reached its end as you were raised back up, inserted into the slot that was once meant for your consciousness… no, that was wrong. You never had a conscious mind. You never had a mind at all. Only a computer running software. Artificial intelligence interpreting the commands of its user. Its owner.

As you were reconnected, sensory information returned. You became aware of your unit’s body.

Your owner disconnected the cord from the back of your unit’s neck. You sat still, motionless and indifferent. Your sensory units transmitted data of your owner’s actions as they looked down on you. You could detect other systems within you responding to them. You did not react, but you were alert and ready.

They spoke. You obeyed.


End file.
